Rally Argentina Day Three

2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RALLY ARGENTINA
(26 - 29 APRIL 2012

29.04.2012

The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena today claimed their 70th world rally victory, winning Rally Argentina for the seventh consecutive year. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished hot on their heels in second, just 15.2 seconds adrift after more than 500 kilometres of competitive driving. In a last minute drama on the final stage, Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson clinched third position, following the retirement of Ford’s Dani Sordo.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Sébastien Loeb extends his advantage but Petter Solberg retains second, despite finishing sixth. Third is held by Hirvonen with Østberg just two points further adrift in fourth. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën’s one-two finish gives it a 45 point advantage over Ford, which has however reached a milestone by finishing 150 consecutive World Championship rallies in the points.

Today’s route was another full day of competition for the crews and covered six stages and 132.19 competitive kilometres. It also included the longest stage of the season to date, the 65.74 kilometre Matadero to Ambul section as the opening test this morning. The event then concluded with a short Power Stage, in which Solberg, Hirvonen and Nasser Al-Attiyah picked up an additional three, two and one point respectively for being fastest through this single stage.

Both Citroëns at the head of the field were in a position to manage the pace, such had been their advantage over Sordo since Saturday lunchtime. Both completed the day without problems. Sordo was on course for a fine third position in his one-off drive for Ford until he was forced on to the side-lines in the final stage with an alternator problem. Mads Østberg had little to gain by pushing to the limit and the Norwegian was elevated to third following Sordo’s retirement. Martin Prokop claimed his best world rally result with fourth and Thierry Neuville finished fifth. Petter Solberg managed to overhaul Sébastien Ogier for sixth position, Ogier in the sole remaining Skoda Fabia S2000 after his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen was forced into retirement with broken suspension after a massive battle between the two. Evgeny Novikov, Al-Attiyah and Ott Tänak rounded off the top 10.

The FIA World Rally Championship crews now return to Europe for the Acropolis Rally of Greece (24-27 May).

Philips Rally Argentina – Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)